Thursday, August 1, 2019

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 4, 2019: Rich in what matters to God...


What do you value most?

  Vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!  The Book of Ecclesiastes is mostly a downer.  Its author Qoheleth spends a great deal of time reminding people that, in the end, whatever they have worked for in this life will prove worthless.  Achievements, success, possessions, even wisdom if acquired only to impress others is ultimately of little use. So why bother?  A bit further on, however, Qoheleth will also note that God has placed the eternal within each of us – and only this eternal is (by definition) of lasting value.  Only the eternal love of God offers us security beyond the tangible; only a life lived in relationship with God, for the sake of God, can offer us the wisdom of heart of which Psalm 90 speaks.  Such wisdom allows us to number our days aright, to let our hearts expand, to see as God sees.  God is a power beyond our comprehension, a power at work in our lives, extraordinary, not because we have earned it but because God loves us – if only we keep our hearts open, not hardened, receptive to the gifts of the Lord.

  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shares essentially the same message with the crowds gathered to hear him preach.  Both the man who demands his inheritance from a greedy brother and the man who wants a bigger barn to store his harvest have missed the point:  they may covet earthly treasure but they are not rich in what matters to God.  Paul will be clear on this point to the Colossians:  seek what is above, he tells them, for your life is hidden with Christ in God.  We were baptized into a life where self-focus has no place; we are given a new garment, Christ himself, to put on. But if we don’t live from it as a new identity, then it is merely veneer; it doesn’t define who we are or what we value.  Ultimately, Christianity calls us to value the eternal, an eternal expressed imperfectly in this life in the connections we make with each other, in the gifts we share with our community, in the love that is Christ alive among us, with us – only that love lasts forever; only that love is worth living until we know perfect love, perfect union, in heaven.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

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